The significance of student activities in student development is taken for granted even though activities represent the core of institutional efforts to foster student development. In many ways, student activities may be the most critical link with the educational mission of the institution. Attention must be paid to the quality of opportunities offered to students, the physical location or accessibility of student activities offices and staff, and the quality of role modeling on the part of students and staff at college unions. These objectives can be used to guide programming policy formation. 17 references. (Author/MSE)